B190 Enthusiasts

I recently replaced my rear tires with LT265/70R16E's. The idea was to increase the load range while keeping the same diameter of the 245/75R16E tires. If I'm happy with them, I will eventually replace the fronts with them and hopefully avoid trimming the fiberglass skirts that upgrading to 265/75R16 tires requires.

So far, so good.

One thing though, when they switched the back tires to the front, they forgot to lower the PSI from 80 to 55. When driving 60mph on a rural highway, the van handled squirrely. I lowered them to 55 PSI, went on a test drive and everything seems great now. At first I was worried that it might be some strange result of the new tires, but I now am pretty sure that more than 55 PSI in the front tires is a BAD thing.

Has anyone else experienced anything like this?

I had mismatched tires on a Honda Accord and had the same squirrelly issue. The fronts seemed to track differently than the rears, especially on a uneven pavement. Hope yours is just a psi issue.


Cliff

I haven't tried the higher pressure test, but it's not surprising that overinflated tires would feel bad on the road - the center of the tread bulges outward a bit, so your contact patch with the road would be smaller.

That's why the recommended inflation pressure is to what the manufacturer of the vehicle recommends, not the max on the sidewall. For the tire to work correctly it has to have the correct amount of pressure in it for the weight it is carrying.

skater wrote:I haven't tried the higher pressure test, but it's not surprising that overinflated tires would feel bad on the road - the center of the tread bulges outward a bit, so your contact patch with the road would be smaller.

That's why the recommended inflation pressure is to what the manufacturer of the vehicle recommends, not the max on the sidewall. For the tire to work correctly it has to have the correct amount of pressure in it for the weight it is carrying.

Skater, you are correct, I put another 30+ miles on uneven Highway roads this morning (at 55 front 80 rear), and the handling was as stable as it's ever been, if not better.

Just something to remember when getting tires rotated, ...double check the PSI before leaving their parking lot!